A vegan firefighter from Ontario says he was forced to survive without adequate nutrition while battling an enormous blaze in British Colombia.
In a complaint filed with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, Adam Knauff details how his employer, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, failed to respect his ethical beliefs and treated him unfairly.
“The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry discriminated against me and failed to accommodate my sincerely held ethical beliefs (creed) when it failed to provide me with food that accommodated my personal commitment to ethical veganism, and then disciplined me and suspended me because I attempted to assert my right to accommodation of that sincerely held ethical belief,” wrote Knauff in his application to the tribunal.
In July 2017, Knauff joined around 1,000 firefighters in an attempt to control a large forest fire in William’s Lake, B.C. Working between 14-16 hours every day, Knauff struggled to perform on the food he was given over a four-day period.
In spite of informing the ministry about his vegan diet, Knauff says there were some days he was forced to go hungry due to a lack of appropriate plant-based options.
“After working 16-hour days for four days with inadequate nutrition I began to feel physically ill and mentally groggy,” Knauff wrote. “Until that point I had been trying to push through my hunger and exhaustion, sustaining myself on nuts and fruits.”
Exhausted and hungry, Knauff admitted he swore at a chef who contaminated vegan patties by first handling beef patties. He was given a warning. On another occasion, he was allegedly served a plate of food that was at least half non-vegan. In his frustration, he tipped the plate on the floor.
The ministry suspended Knauff for three days without pay and banned him from fighting any fires outside the province for the rest of 2017 and all of 2018.
Responding to the allegations, the ministry states that veganism does not meet the legal definition of being a creed. It also maintains that it did its best to accommodate Knauff’s vegan diet.
The case centers on whether veganism can be classified as a creed. Although ethical veganism has never been legally acknowledged as such, animal advocates are looking to the tribunal to set a precedent in this case.
Please email or write to the Human Rights of Tribunal of Ontario to call for the vegan ideology to be respected as the creed that it truly is.
By email: [email protected]
By mail: Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario
655 Bay Street, 14th floor
Toronto, ON M7A 2A3
I quite like reading a post that will make people think.
Also, thank you for permitting me to comment!
Please provide Knauff with Vegan foods. He is doing animals a great kindness. Thank you Knauff for sharing your story.
Veganism is a protected belief. If you are Jain, you are vegan. Jains don’t eat animals. Jainism is a religion. Religion is protected by LAW. *BIG MIDDLE FINGER TO THOSE OF YOU GIVING THIS MAN A HARD TIME*
Please provide Knauff with Vegan foods. He is doing animals a great kindness. Thank you Knauff for sharing your story.
That’s not right.
Everyone has a right to eat what they think is best.
Sounds like this fire department could do with some help from Rip Esselstyn and the Engine Diet if they do not know how to prepare healthy vegan food… and all the firefighters would benefit from this. It is disgusting the way he was treated and frankly discriminated against. If this was a “religious belief” they would have fallen over themselves to make sure he was accommodated. Unfortunately though this is a pretty common attitude towards vegans.
This is very very wrong that he was denied vegan food. Instead of giving him some respect that he does not believe in killing and eating animals or eating dead bodies of animals, this firefighter is denied his choice of food, just because his seniors or other people like the chef don’t like/respect vegan food. This clearly shows the cruel and Demonic nature of humans.
I hope he wins — I hope more and more people will realize the benefits of Veganism — the more Vegan options available, the better for EVERYONE, including your animal eaters.
He could’ve just eaten vegetables.
Yeah but he wasn’t the one preparing the food. They cook it all together with the meat. They could have made things easier, they could have had salads and things like that, all prepped with the option to ADD meat. I have this problem almost everywhere I go, I have to cook almost all of my food. When chefs are doing luncheons/dinner services like these they do everything in giant batches and mix it all together. It’s not as simple as “he could have just eaten vegetables”.. that mindset is exactly what created this situation to begin with. If he had the ability to gather and prep his own food that would be a different story, but this man was there to help save lives.
What kind of fire department is this that proper diets are given to those who don’t believe in animal-based diets? This vegan gentleman was out fighting fires and deserves the food he requests without the bullshit from his department.
“He could have just eaten vegetables.“ Excuse me, Ms. Ortiz, but a vegan or vegetarian does not confine themselves to just eating salads or vegetables, especially since there are all these plant-based high protein meat substitutes out there. They need their protein also. I‘ve heard that kind of senseless remark all my life and it always comes from these carnivores who know very little about a vegetarian or vegan. That vegan fireman deserves the same respect with his diet as the others who contribute to the slaughter of animals for so-called food purposes.
Or “Let them eat cake!”
Would a non vegan be treated like this. The answer is no. He was working just as hard as anyone else and everybody that knew him must have known him inside out. What if he was allergic to a certain type of food?